Stephanie Ybarra News

When five Artistic Directors across the country (four in their inaugural term) were faced with the closure of their stages, they quickly banded together to produce an opportunity to keep theatre and art alive through a micro-commission program that would become Play at Home.

Stephanie Ybarra, who currently serves as artistic director at Baltimore Center Stage and is also a co-founder of Artists Anti-Racism Coalition, recently was a guest on Variety's Stagecraft podcast, which she talked about racism in the theatre industry.

At a time of uncertainty with regards to the continuing effects of the global pandemic, as well as a much-needed reckoning of the ongoing racial injustice in our country, Baltimore Center Stage honors the collective need for progress, hope, and joy.

State Theatre New Jersey joins theaters across the country in the Play at Home project. The Play at Home micro-commissioning initiative is a collaboration between theaters as a response to the rapidly changing landscape of the performing arts during this global crisis.

Today (June 10) in live streaming: Betty Buckley visits Stars in the House, Quarantine Cabaret is back, and so much more!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has announced the expansion of its online programs and events through August 2020. Arena Artistic Director Molly Smith has curated a diverse and engaging Spring/Summer Season, Looking Forward, connecting artists and audiences locally and nationally.

WP Theater has announced that their third biennial Pipeline Festival will continue virtually, with #pipelineonline. Originally slated to begin performances on March 26, each of the Festival plays will now be featured weekly by WP Lab Artists in weekly emails and on WP Theater's Instagram @wptheater, through April 24.

Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, The Public Theater, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, have announced PLAY AT HOME, a series of micro-commissioned short plays. The first of the commissioned plays will be available today, Wednesday, April 1, for the public to download, read and perform at home.

As part of an ongoing commitment to serve the community, Baltimore Center Stage has announced that it has made the difficult but necessary decision to postpone Bakkhai, by Euripides, adapted by Anne Carson and directed by Mike Donahue. The production, which features original music by Diana Oh, and choreography by Willia Noel Montague was set to close the 2019/20 Season in May. It will now open the 2021/22 Season in September 2021.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced that the theater will make available video and audio recordings of Where We Stand, a world premiere co-production with WP Theater, originally announced as the fifth Mainstage production of the 2020/21 Season.

Baltimore Center Stage has released a statement about its upcoming programming in the wake of COVID-19.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced the cast and artistic team for the world premiere of Where We Stand, the fifth mainstage offering of the theater's 2019/20 season.  Where We Stand is a brand-new fable of penance, filled with humor, heart, and music. It calls on audiences to join in community with one passionate storyteller, and poses the question a?oeWhat do we owe each other?a??

WP Theater, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, has announced the 2020 lineup for The Pipeline Festival, the third biennial showcase of its celebrated WP Lab residency for playwrights, directors and producers. Running from March 26 - April 25, 2020 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway, at 76th Street), the festival is the culmination of the renowned two-year WP Lab residency, providing a unique opportunity for audiences to see five new plays - in various stages of development, ranging from staged readings to full-length workshop productions - presented over a span of five weeks.

The World Premiere of playwright and performer Donnetta Lavinia Grays' WHERE WE STAND - co-presented by WP Theater and Baltimore Center Stage -  just opened Off-Broadway last night, Tuesday February 11, 2020, at WP Theater (1262 Broadway, NYC).

The Playwrights Realm (Founding Artistic Director Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Roberta Pereira) announced today the complete cast and creative team for the New York premiere of Noah Diaz's Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally, directed by Taylor Reynolds (who recently helmed Clubbed Thumb's acclaimed production of Will Arbery's Plano), April 3-May 2, at the Mezzanine Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 W 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019).

Baltimore Center Stage has been awarded a 2020 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the agency announced last week.  For the second year in a row, the arts organization will provide funding to Center Stage in support of its Mobile Unit. 

Baltimore Center Stage has announced the cast and artistic team for the co-world premiere of Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally, the fourth mainstage offering of the theater's 2019/20 season. At once poignant and heart-wrenching, Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally takes an updated look at the classic world of 'Dick and Jane' from the childhood books, with an emotional twist---a world that is beginning to fracture for one dysfunctional and dissembling family.

The Powell expedition down the Colorado was a voyage of discovery only from the perspective of certain white Protestant men, since Native Americans lived along the route – and white Mormons dwelt close by as well. But only when the river and surrounding lands were surveyed and mapped by certain kinds of white men could they truly be considered part of the American imperium. While the travelers can acknowledge that various people “have run these streams” before them, including “natives” and military deserters, these predecessors were persons whom “no one counts.” That laughably foreshortened perspective does not rob the travelers of bravery, resilience, or grit. It just makes their heroic sacrifices less consequential than they understand.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced a special event featuring a staged reading of Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner, which will take place on Monday, December 16, 2019.  This one-night-only presentation of this revered classic features notable personalities with Baltimore ties in the classic roles of the Bayard Family during their 100-year-long Christmas dinner. The reading will serve as a launch-point for a post-performance conversation on the importance of family traditions, moderated by Artistic Director Stephanie Ybarra.

Baltimore Center Stage has announced a special event featuring a staged reading of Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner, which will take place on Monday, December 16, 2019.  This one-night-only presentation of this revered classic features notable personalities with Baltimore ties in the classic roles of the Bayard Family during their 100-year-long Christmas dinner. The reading will serve as a launch-point for a post-performance conversation on the importance of family traditions, moderated by Artistic Director Stephanie Ybarra.